


See You In Fire

by BlackBlood1872



Series: Ferrum\\Aluminium [1]
Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Nightmares, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Post-Canon, soft, the world isn't real at 3am
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:35:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24432937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackBlood1872/pseuds/BlackBlood1872
Summary: Lio doesn't know how much time passes as they sit in the quiet. The only clock in this room is a novelty analog; it's Edo themed, like most of Galo's clutter. It looks like one of the castles of that era, with the clock face where the main doors would be.He can't see it in the gloom, but he can hear it, a steadytick, tock,as quiet as the rest of the world.Lio dozes.
Relationships: Lio Fotia & Galo Thymos, Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Series: Ferrum\\Aluminium [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1767979
Comments: 11
Kudos: 118





	See You In Fire

**Author's Note:**

> I've tagged both / and & in relationships cuz, honestly, this could be pre-slash, established, or queer platonic. Reader's choice.  
> Also, yes, I have joined the many people who are using [Inferno](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSts_WOEE-s) lyrics as titles.

Lio wakes because he’s cold. He hasn’t been cold since he moved in with Galo, since he started sharing his bed.

(It’s nothing that he hasn’t done countless times before, sleeping in groups with the other Burnish, out in the desert or the wilderness. They are only human, after all, and it gets cold in the desert, so much colder than anyone would expect. Not even the Promare could keep them warm enough to survive that on their own. Not when a Burnish fire was a beacon for any and all to find them, and they didn’t dare light one.

It’s not that Lio is colder now than he used to be. It’s just that, without the constant heat in his veins, he notices the cold so much more. The slow creep of it in the evenings, the sudden bite when he wakes, alone and stripped of the shielding heat he knew most of his life, shivering out of his skin, even wrapped in layers of clothes and blankets. It was barely even a conscious decision to migrate from the couch to Galo’s room.

Galo didn’t mind when Lio joined him that first night, never mentioned it beyond a barely mumbled conversation about how cold he was, and so Lio never left.)

He considers going back to sleep but—he’s cold. And while Galo usually wakes up in the early pre-dawn, he doesn’t usually get up at—Lio squints at the clock—2:53 AM. Which means something's wrong, and Lio can’t in good conscience let his friend suffer whatever woke him in the dead of night alone.

Lio takes the comforter when he stands, attempting to trap whatever warmth remains, and shuffles out of the room. The apartment is dark, but the soft glow of the street lights through the blinds illuminate Galo's form, sitting hunched on the couch. He’s just… staring at his hands, utterly silent, and that’s _wrong_. Galo isn’t made to be quiet. Somber.

Lio needs to fix this.

“Galo?”

The man in question looks up sharply, eyes wide and guilty before he shuts them, pressing his palms against his face. “Shit,” he whispers. “Sorry. Did I wake you?”

“No.” Galo gives him a flat look through his fingers and Lio sighs. “I was cold,” he shrugs. He doesn’t give Galo another chance to apologize, plopping down on the couch and wriggling until he’s pressed snugly against Galo’s side. Galo laughs, a small breathy thing, half a shade from broken, and wraps an arm around him.

Lio relaxes into the embrace. He lets the silence settle, taking the time to warm up thanks to Galo “Human Furnace” Thymos. Then, he opens his eyes and pins his friend with a piercing look. “Okay. Now tell me what’s wrong.”

“Why would anything be wrong?” A deflection, and a poor one at that.

Lio can play that game. “How long have you been out here?”

“Uh.” Galo leans his head back to look into the kitchen, presumably at the microwave. He doesn’t answer. Lio huffs, lightly head-butting Galo’s shoulder.

“Idiot,” he mutters, and knows it’s entirely fond, even now. “Obviously something's wrong. You sleep like a log, there’s no reason you’d be sitting out here in the dark if everything was okay.”

Galo sighs through his nose. He slumps, resting his chin on Lio’s head. Taking comfort in his presence, but avoiding his eyes. “Just a nightmare,” he whispers. And then—nothing. Lio can hear Galo trying to find the words, see his Adam's apple bob as he swallows. Lio doesn’t rush him. There’s no need. Galo will speak when he’s ready.

Lio doesn’t know how much times passes as they sit in the quiet. He can’t see the microwave display from here, and the only clock in this room is a novelty Japanese style analog, sat on a shelf with other knick-knacks like it. It’s Edo themed, like most of Galo’s clutter. Not a matoi, though, something Lio had been surprised to see that first day. No, this clock looks like one of the castles of that era, with the clock face where the main doors would be.

He can’t see it in the gloom, but he can hear it, a steady _tick, tock,_ as quiet as the rest of the world.

Lio dozes.

Galo's voice is a rumble, pressed as Lio is with his ear next to his chest. “I don’t even know why I’m so upset,” he says, and Lio can almost hear his disquieted frown. “It’s a nightmare I’ve been having for years, but now it’s… I guess it hits different now.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Lio asks, more breath than sound, so Galo has the chance to pretend he never heard the question if he doesn’t want to answer. But Galo hums, thumb rubbing circles on Lio's shoulder.

“It was the night of the fire—the one that burned down my house. Killed my parents. There’s so much smoke it hurts to breathe and—this is a dream, but I still remember how that felt. How difficult it is to breathe when there’s only ash and heat in the air.” Galo swallows, voice rough with remembered pain, and Lio presses closer. He wishes he wasn’t so thoroughly bundled in this blanket, that he could wrap his arms around this man and hold him until he stops sounding like the slightest breeze will break him apart.

The hand that was drawing meaningless shapes on his arm now moves to his hair, carding through it in gentle motions, and Lio melts into it. He closes his eyes with a near silent sigh. It doesn’t feel right that Galo should be comforting him like this, now, but Lio has learned that nothing helps Galo more than knowing he’s helping someone else. If soothing Lio helps soothe Galo, then they both win.

“Usually, there’s no one there when I run out of the house,” Galo continues, “ _if_ I get out. Because this is a nightmare, and part of that is not having anyone to save me. But this time… I know the truth about that night, and Kray, and what he _did_ … and this time, I got out of the house and just. Froze. Because Kray was standing there and he looked… so cold. And he said—” Galo’s voice cracks, a sob crowding out his words, and he stops to let it flow through him. Hides his face in Lio’s hair, breathing in the scent of him.

Lio doesn’t say: _you don’t have to tell me_. He doesn’t give Galo that out, the one both of them know would do him more harm than good, bottling up this nightmare where it will fester and grow and only come back worse. Better to say it now, during this insubstantial hour of the night, when the world is far enough away to be safe from it.

When Galo speaks again, his voice is a ghost of a sound. “He said: what will it take to kill you? And then he looked like he did on the ship, all covered in flame and looking at me like—like there was no one in the world he hated more than me. He raised his arm, like he did before, and there was—so much fire. I couldn’t run away from it, and there was nothing to protect me from it and it _hurt_ —” his breath hitches.

“…and that’s when I woke up. I didn’t want to wake you too, so I came out here, but… I guess that didn’t work like I hoped.”

Lio doesn’t know what to say. There _isn’t_ anything to say. Platitudes, less than meaningless. _It’s just a dream_ , or _it’s not real_ , but it’s based on a memory, and the true motives of a man who tried his hardest to end Galo’s life. _It’s in the past_ , but it’s not, is it? Because Kray is in prison but not for this. No one else knows about this. It’s the past, but it’s unresolved and the knowledge of it is a blaring neon sign that won’t go away until Kray is brought to justice.

So Lio doesn’t say any of that. There’s no point in saying something so empty, and if there are no quick remedies, it’s better not to try a treatment that doesn’t fit when time will heal so much more. Instead, he offers a distraction. “Let's watch a movie.”

Galo pulls back just far enough to give Lio a bemused look. “It’s three a.m.”

Lio rolls his eyes. “It doesn’t have to be a _good_ movie.” He watches a Galo cracks a hint of a smile and laughs, just a little, barely anything at all. It’s small and tired and so much paler than his usual bluster, but it’s a spark of light in the dark of a difficult night. Lio will take it.

They find a movie, one that started at three o’clock, so they missed the very beginning but not much else. It’s animated, about fish. Galo is easily engrossed in the story of the two characters making their way through the ocean, but Lio doesn’t pay much attention. He closes his eyes and leans further into Galo's side with a quiet exhale, letting the noise of the movie wash over him. It’s late, and he’s tired, and the problem that woke him has been, mostly, resolved. Nothing’s keeping him awake anymore.

Galo runs his fingers through Lio's hair and presses his cheek against his head. “You gonna sleep?” he murmurs. Lio doesn’t have the energy to do more than hum. Galo hums back. “Alright.”

Lio is drifting right at the edge of sleep, moments from dropping off, when Galo speaks again. “Hey Lio? …thanks. I needed this.”

Lio garbles something that’s supposed to be “no problem” but probably doesn’t sound like it, and falls asleep. 

**Author's Note:**

> yes, the movie they're watching is Finding Nemo


End file.
